Poll: What percentage of your gold is held in physical form?

[goodasgold]

Coins, bars, jewelry, nuggets, Perth Mint, etc.? ETFs and closed end accounts, of course, don't qualify as physical.

[goodasgold]

Looking at responses so far, I am a surprised how low physical holdings are.

At a minimum, I believe ETF holdings of gold should be distributed between several companies to reduce the likelihood of catastrophic losses due to fraud, natural disasters and terrorism (dirty bombs, etc.) related to one company.

And when the chips are down, I personally would not have a whole lot of faith regarding the actual contents of the vaults where the physical gold  backing up the ETFs is reportedly being held.

[Desert]

Looking at responses so far, I am a surprised how low physical holdings are.

Me too.  PP'ers need to man up and get some physical gold!

[Kshartle]

Would you count the Perth mint?

I think the case could be made that this is a safer way to own gold as an American than physical gold here.

If you really need it and need to get out of dodge it will be risky trying to leave with it.

[Snoopy]

100% physical here. 

Don't trust ETFs for gold holdings in a crisis!

[goodasgold]

100% physical here. 

Don't trust ETFs for gold holdings in a crisis!

Welcome to the board, Snoopy.

[Snoopy]

Thanks, goodasgold. 

I don't really feel "new" to the board, as I've consistently lurked since its beginning, and used the Permanent Portfolio strategy for 6 years.

I retired last July and intend to continue investing with the PP.  Don't intend to draw from investments for another 5-10 yrs., Lord willing.  It's been pretty good for me, so far. 

[Ad Orientem]

Would you count the Perth mint?

I think the case could be made that this is a safer way to own gold as an American than physical gold here.

If you really need it and need to get out of dodge it will be risky trying to leave with it.

Yes, I would count Perth Mint as physical.

Edit: Provided that the account is in your name and not via a brokerage.

[dualstow]

Looking at responses so far, I am a surprised how low physical holdings are.
...

ETFs are convenient.
(1) I can hold them in my 401(k). I know there are some ways to hold gold coins in an IRA, too, but ETFs are hassle free.
(2) I've been hesitating to pick up the phone and buy coins since the price was US$1250. On the other hand, it is of course trivially easy to tap a few keys on the keyboard and add new shares of IAU.
(3) My favorite dealer only does ten coins or more at a time. There are dealers in my town that I can walk to and buy fewer than that, but the deal is not as good if I buy fewer than ten. Sometimes I will do that (buy one coin), but this is where ETFs shine once again: you can buy less than $1,000 worth of IAU with a few dollars' commission.

[dualstow]

and
(4) With ETFs, you aren't suddenly at a 4% loss due to the markup. (I remembered this one when I placed an order yesterday).

[goodasgold]

Looking at responses so far, I am a surprised how low physical holdings are.
...

ETFs are convenient.

Yes, ETFs are convenient, making it easy to rebalance, so I rely on them to a certain extent. But IMO there is nothing like the ultimate security of holding gold in a locked and insured safe deposit box, which in turn is locked inside of a bank vault.

In William Bernstein's largely favorable review of the PP, he asked if people can trust an ETF to return "their" gold on demand. His concise answer: "I don't."

[dualstow]

I fully agree with you, goodas. In fact, I ordered eagles a couple of days ago. (That's why the price is now down again. Sorry guys).
Physical gold is better. But, people tend to do what's convenient. That's why we microwave pizzas sometimes instead of washing green leaf lettuce and making a nutritious salad. That's all I meant.